You can’t call it a Texas disease, but meningococcemia—a blood-borne form of meningitis—afflicts a fair number of the state’s children. And if the FDA will let him, a Dallas pediatrician thinks he can treat it.

More than a decade ago I wrote about the virtues of the drinking life and the comforts of what I called a “bar bar.” Then I hit rock bottom. It’s been eight years now since I took my last drink—and I’m finally ready to tell the rest of the story.